steve1 Says:
“Suda reflects a worrisome trend in Japan; the automobile is losing its emotional appeal, particularly among the young, who prefer to spend their money on the latest electronic gadgets. â€I can definitely identify with that: I love electronic gadgets and my fixed gear bike.
Having a car is SO VERY 20th century … :^)
I agree. It’s a balancing-issue: electronic anything is in your head, the fixie is in your bones – that creates a nice balance that would otherwise be absent.
Rik Says:
Having not ridden one, I do not understand the apparent trend with the fixies(?).
A fixie is what bicycles used to be, at the beginning, before freewheels and gears were invented. A fixie reminds a guy of their first tricycle. You pedal forward and you move forward, you pedal backward and you move backward. As you can see in this funny vid for example:
A fixie is near-silent, and you hear none of the irritating clickety-clack of an 18-speed bike. A fixie is light and easily carried up the stairs. A fixie has a lot less parts that can break. The fixie culture celebrates diversity and most fixies are a jumble of different parts, not one sleek color-coordinated, trademarked, copyrighted, branded, and Lance Armstring-approved bicycle. But most of all, I suspect, it takes us back to our first experience of mobility, the trike or single-gear bike we had when we were little kids. I see it in my son now… he can’t walk his bike from the car to the door – maybe 30 feet – he has to get on his bike and ride that distance.
Brenda Ashworth Says:
I believe it is a monetary decision. Unfortunately, society consists of the “haves†and the “have notsâ€. The “have notsâ€, sadly do not have a voice or choice.
I am sorry, but I do not understand your comment. Maybe I am missing the point your are making, but one can obtain a nice fixie for a few hundred bucks (if one is willing to do some of the work) and for $700-1,000 one can get a killer bike built. It does not seem like a money-issue to me. Moving from a car to a combo of public transport and bicycle one would end up saving a ton of money in the form of insurance, gasoline and so on. And one might also save $500-1,000 per year to a health club – where one sits on a stationary bike (that uses electricity!!!) in a room with a bunch of sweaty and smelly people who are listening to horrible Eighties music.
“…the fixie is in your bones…”
YEAH! THAT’S IT!!! In your bones!!!
You are correct that I should have addressed the “Post Car Society” with clarity.
No apology is needed. My initial thought that became a written comment was in regards to “emotional appeal” . Car choice? Electronic Gadget choice? A person of wealth has choices.
I still disagree with the article comment that cars are “so very 20th century” because of transportation of goods, services and human beings for basic needs of food, shelter and urgency of medial attention. I have always lived in rural / small urban city so it is difficult to imagine life in large city as this young executive from Japan.
Yes, I have a fixie gear bycycle and it was my first bike to pedal forward, slow down and learn to stop and not always so gracefully. Yes. I would rather live in green clean smelling fresh air environment then 80’s healthclub stinky. I love to walk along the river as one of my favorite forms of exercise.
I am thankful that I have a voice and choice in life.
Thanks for letting me comment. :)